Fists that Go Bump in the Night
by Angelina Johnson
Summary: Robb Stark can honestly say that he's never been punched in the face while scaring people at the Stark family's annual haunted house before. He can also say he never thought that being punched in the face would be so awesome. (Modern AU, Halloween "meet-cute")


It's Halloween, and that means it's one of Robb Stark's favorite times of year. It would be a great enough holiday all on its own — he loves tricks and treats like any other sixteen year old boy — but it's the Winterfell annual block party that _truly _makes it spectacular.

There are hay rides, and apple bobbing, and all kinds of _kiddy _things on the block, but the best part is the Haunted House that the Starks have been putting together since before he was born, if he does say so himself.

Robb remembers when he was little, and it was mostly his parents friends filling up the haunted halls of their home. Then he started getting older, and he was allowed to man the spaghetti-guts table (Rickon's job, now), and freak people out with the peeled-grape-eyeballs (a duty Arya has complained _loudly _about being stuck with this year).

For the past three years, though, he, Theon, and Jon have been old enough to be _scarers _, jumping out of alcoves and closets and making people shriek at the top of their lungs. It's oddly satisfying; the rest of the year, Robb is the _nice _guy, the boy who makes people smile and laugh and feel comfortable. On Halloween, he gets to be something different, something scary and wild and unpredictable and fun.

And he's damn good at it, too, if he does say so himself.

"Bet I'm going to scare _loads _more people than you two this year," Robb says with a cocky grin as he pulls on his leatherface mask and revs up his bladeless chainsaw. He's going to be stationed on the bottom floor, where there's more open space for him to have his props, while Jon's starting in a second floor bathroom and Theon's going to be lurking near the stairs.

"Bet you're _not _. Jon's face is terrifying on a normal day, if anyone's beating me, it's him," Theon shoots back. He's got a Freddy Krueger mask and fake-finger knives this year, and Jon's settled for being the clown from _It _. He'd even humoured Sansa and let her put temporary dye in his hair, instead of wearing a ridiculous wig, and Robb's got to admit, he _does _look a little terrifying.

Still, he's got a good feeling about this night, and finally, the clock strikes 6:00 pm, and the boys all take their places as the Stark haunted house opens for business.

* * *

The haunted house only stays open for about an hour, so that the Stark clan can actually get out and enjoy the rest of the block party, too. Robb wagers it's been about two thirds of that time by now, and he's been on _fire _. He thinks there's only been one person who's done anything besides scream in terror when he sneaks up behind them with his mask and his chainsaw, and that one person _giggled _. He's going to just go ahead and claim that giggle as another win for him — Jon will back him up against Theon, if Robb claims it was nervous laughter, hiding true fear deep down.

He's already mentally working on his unnecessary victory speech for later when _she _walks in.

Her hair is so blonde it's _white _, practically fluorescent in the dimly lit haunted house. He can't tell what color her eyes are in the dark, but they're _alert _. Smart and attentive and if he were positioned somewhere else, he'd be _screwed _, because this girl would spot him immediately and his scaring gig would be up.

As it is, though, Robb has the good fortune of being _out _of her line of vision, and as quietly as he can manage, he sneaks behind her, until his chainsaw is only inches away from that glowing hair of hers. He waits until the exact right moment to rev it, and he waits for that satisfied feeling that comes right after his 'victims' scream and he's sure he's delivered on the Starks promise of 'true terror' in their 'scarily realistic haunted house.'

She's not screaming, though. This girl seems to be made of tougher stuff, and Robb's too busy trying to decide if he's impressed or disappointed to realize what's happening.

His lag gives the girl just enough time to whirl around on pure instinct and connect her fist directly with his face.

* * *

"Oh, gods," the girl exclaims, horrified as Robb recoils from the impact. His chainsaw is, thankfully, off, and it skitters to the floor as he raises a hand to his mask-covered cheek in surprise. It had absorbed most of the blow, but Robb suspects he'll still have a nasty bruise there later.

"I can't believe I just did that, I am _so _sorry," the mystery apologizes profusely. She takes a step forward, like she's going to reach out for him, but then her hand drops back to her side. "Are you all right?"

Robb is close enough now that even in the dim light, he can tell that her eyes are a striking violet. They're filled with concern for him, the recipient of her obviously unintentional blow, and he wants to reassure her. He wants to ask her where she got such fast reflexes and a killer right hook, and he _also _maybe wants to ask her name.

But more people are starting to trickle into the haunted house now. He's got a job to do, a family reputation to uphold, and also a bet to win, so reluctantly, his face still stinging slightly, he crouches down to pick up the chainsaw again instead. He lets out a guttural roar as he revs it at her again, and the girl's friends link arms with her and drag her off into the depths of the haunted house.

If Robb's maybe a _bit _more aggressive in scaring the next few people who traipse through, it's definitely _not _because he just got punched by a really pretty girl, and it was almost _awesome _until they came in and interrupted it.

* * *

During the half hour or so more that Robb spends scaring anyone who dares venture into his home, he builds up the story of the ethereal beauty who punched him in his head. By the time he's off duty and the Starks are closing down to head out and enjoy the rest of the block party, he's decided that he was punched in the face by the most beautiful girl in the world, and that she'd probably be his soulmate or something, if it weren't for the fact that he's never seen her before tonight and with his luck, he'll probably never see her again.

It's the kind of story Arya will fake-gag at and Sansa will swoon over, while Theon will high-five him on being touched by someone that hot in _any _capacity and Jon will just roll his eyes fondly. Robb's kind of looking forward to seeing if his guesses at their predictions are right, and he tosses the last bits of his costume on the kitchen counter before heading outside, where he's sure it won't take long to find his friends and family.

Instead, though, there's a lone figure sitting on his porch. A figure whose sight makes something in Robb's chest stir. She stands up immediately at the sight of him, and there's recognition in her eyes that shouldn't be there — he'd been in a _mask _, after all.

She steps forward, just like earlier, and this time her lithe fingers _do _find his cheek, tracing lightly over an area of his face that makes him hiss in pain.

"Oh, I was _afraid _I'd bruised you. I still can't believe I did that," the girl says dejectedly, her hand falling back to her side, and Robb almost can't believe it. She stuck around outside the haunted house, waiting for _him _? Just wanting to see if she'd ended up hurting him or not?

If he were more cynical, like Arya or Jon, he'd think she just didn't want a lawsuit slapped on her or something. But Robb's more like Sansa than he cares to admit somedays, and he puffs his chest up slightly, planning to take advantage of moments he'd never thought he would get with the stranger who'd made his night _way _more interesting than he'd originally anticipated.

"Of course you did, you've got a killer right hook," Robb tells her, grinning. If she's gorgeous enough inside of the haunted house, when she'd been an expressionless badass, and also _now _, when she's looking terribly concerned for him, he can only imagine what she looks like if she smiles.

"You're not angry with me?" she asks him, although she looks less distraught than before and more skeptical. Like she doesn't believe that he's not phased. Robb's still reeling from the fact that this girl he'd given himself time to build up in his head is still _here _. He wants to get the chance to find out if she's as badass as first impressions would indicate, but he doesn't know if she's planning to disappear the second she's sure he's fine or not.

For once in his life, though, Robb Stark _actually _manages to be smooth around a pretty girl, and asks for her name.

"Well… I am a _little _mad. But only because I don't even know your name yet — when I tell people about how awesome it was to get punched in the face by the coolest visitor of the night later, it's going to seem way lamer if I can't even tell them what you're _called _."

She looks like she wants to smack him _again _, on purpose this time for making her think he was upset about it all, but instead she just rolls her eyes at him.

"Daenerys Targaryen, although if it's easier, when you're telling this tale of yours, you can just call me Dany," she tells him, and Robb grins, as if her name is the lottery and he's just won it.

"Dany," he repeats, testing it out. It feels right somehow, rolling off of his tongue.

"And when I tell _my _friends all about the boy who seemed to enjoy being punched entirely too much?" she counters.

"Robb. Robb Stark," he tells her. And then, even though he knows he should be bidding her farewell and going off to find his friends and family for the rest of the night, he blurts out, "Although I bet I could find you _way _more interesting things to tell your friends about me later. Why don't you come explore this party with me and find out?"

For a second, he worries that Dany will say no — she does have lightning fast reflexes, after all, he's seen them firsthand. She could use them to vanish into the night, never to be spotted again.

Instead, though, she smiles warmly at Robb, and it's even more beautiful than he imagined. It makes him feel a little bit like he's melting as she reaches out and offers him her hand, saying "I think I might like that. All right, then, Robb Stark — lead the way."


End file.
